Welcome to our little home on the web

We are glad you stopped by, we hope you are blessed, and enjoy your stay. We discuss a little bit of everthing here, from homeschool, parenting, adoption, farming, our faith, and our plain lifestyle. May God Bless Your Day!!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

3 girls, 3 stories, 3 homes

HOW I love this picture!!
3 girls
3 adoptions nearing completion
2 will be cousins living within 15 minutes of each other
1 will join our family and live in Wisconsin-a LONG ways from her buddies, yet, anything is possible with our God.
Josie is in the middle. Her family's blog is here.
They have PA, and are in the early stages of their LOA wait.
Gracie, the little one on the right, is 2, and will be COMING HOME
in November to a wonderful family, cousins of Josie's parents. Watch her parents' blog for her gotcha day pics on Nov. 6, sure to be sweet, and probably bring a few tears.
The above picture was taken at a KFC near the girls' foster home.
Rosalyn decided to treat her friends to an ice cream cone-gotta love that generous spirit :)
Blessings
Chris

Monday, October 24, 2011

GOTTA LOVE PAPERWORK

WE GOT IT!!
WE GOT IT!!!
Lili's LOA came today!!
and ya know what??
They were dated the same day.
In fact, the really ironic thing is:
Hers was the first one given-
Rosalyn's was numerically 2nd!
And we got Rose's on Friday, and found out about Lili's today!
If I live to be 100, I WILL NEVER understand the ins and outs of this
crazy adoption system we endeavor to survive.
All I know is, I am praising Him for bringing these 2 girls into our lives, and
His hand will not lead us where His grace will not keep us!!!!!

We were blessed, about a week ago, to get new pictures of our little imp!
She just seems so full of smiles and happiness and energy.


My goodness, I am going to be one busy mama when we all get home together!
Now, on to the USCIS paperwork mountain that needs to be leveled before I head to bed!
Blessings
Chris and family

Saturday, October 22, 2011

3 Lovely Letters

LOA
LOA
LOA
LOA
LOA
LOA
LOA
Friday, Oct 21, we received the most precious email in the world
our LOA had come from Ch@na
and we have been officially approved to be Rosalyn's family!!
Doin' the happy dance in WIS!!!
We await news of Lilianna's LOA, yet, rejoice in answers to prayer for our sweet Rose.
More mountains of paperwork to be done, more weeks of waiting ahead of us, but, TRAVEL is imminent!
We WILL be going to Ch$na to get our daughter sometime in the next couple months :)
stay tuned for more
Love and Blessings
Chris

Monday, October 17, 2011

count your blessings, count them 1 by 1

Oh the unspeakable joy of opening up emails to new pictures of our daughter.
Rosalyn, we just love your smile, your sunny outlook, your servant's heart.
How we thank God you will be coming home to us soon.
We are still awaiting our Letter of Acceptance.
STILL
We were supposed to get a faxed copy from Ch#na last week, still not here today!!
OK, I know, all in His timing, and it will all work out the way it is supposed to, when it is supposed to.
It is reassuring to hear it was being faxed-
we are preparing the remainder of our paperwork, so when we have our LOA, it is
off to the races with the final count-down to TA-travel approval.
We are one of 4 families whose paperwork is being "pushed" at our agency, due to 14th birthdays coming up-I feel confident, we are in good hands. We have time.
It's just SOOOO hard to sit back and watch the days tick off, and the ceaseless wondering, checking the computer for any emails, watching the caller ID for our agency's number.
But, oh, how sweet it will be, when finally we get on that plane, headed West.
All in His timing!!!
Blessings and Love
Chris
ps-
the picture is from Lori B, Rosalyn's foster mom-giving us a glimpse into our daughter's daily routine, before it becomes OUR daily routine!
Singing as she hangs out the laundry
and or course, all smiles

PPS
we got updated info on Lili-that post will be coming soon-with new pictures of
our little princess

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

It's the Little Things in Adoption Life

Oh the simple joys of life.
oh, the simple joys of this adoption journey.
Oh, the blessed joys of hearing our daughter say
"Hi Mommy" and "Hi Daddy"
Be still my heart!!!
Our sweet Rosalyn, what a precious gem God is giving us in you.
We were able to skype with Rosalyn at her foster home tonight. What a thrill we had when her big "sis" emailed asking if we wanted to do that, and what a panic set in when we chose a time only a few hours away, on top of an action-packed day in which we had NO time to sit down and come up with some questions or really gather our thoughts on what we wanted to say-
but, the sweet joy of seeing our daughter's face, and hearing her lovely voice-I wish I had a good video of it, but we will work harder on that end of it next time.
Tonight, we sufficed to bring all the kiddos into the camera, and Nick even showed her one of our kitties.
Rosalyn apparently likes cats and dogs, so next time, we will introduce her to our boxer pal, Sadie. Daddy thought maybe we should show her a chicken, but I think she may see enough of those where she is at!! LOL
Kendell talked with her for a few minutes and asked a few questions so I could get some pictures.

W
We found out she likes the color blue-so does Kendell.
The only problem is, their room is Purple!!!
I think we may be doing some painting next spring!!
She likes to eat potatoes!
Good thing, we grow a lot of potatoes in the garden, and eat them in many different way, shapes and forms.
She likes her camera we sent her, and is using it a lot.
She is learning the names of her little brothers, but doesn't always remember Nick and Kendell.
We also got to visit with our dear friend, Lynnea's daughter. They were matched with Josie last week, and now await the official word from China that she is theirs. Shouldn't be long now.  Visit her blog above for some of the great pictures she received, and the awesome video they took the day they informed Josie that she was going to be a Hameloth.
We loved her smile, her joy, and her interest in all of us. These are for you Lynnea.
Love you!!


Josie was studying the screen so hard, and Hannah B and a couple of her little charges also made it into the picture. 2 precious little ones that she and her parent's joyfully and selflessly care for through their foster care program.
we need to do this skyping again-hopefully with a little better plan next time.
We loved our 1/2 hour chat, and  hope to do it again next week.
If that doesn't get you hungry for LOA, and TA, I don't know what does.
How bittersweet-yet how awesome we are able to do this.
Smiling ear to ear tonight-and praising a mighty God who orchestrated every little detail of this for us.
Praising Him!!!
Love
Chris